AT&T Sony Xperia TL Receives Jelly Bean Update

AT&T Sony Xperia TL Receives Jelly Bean UpdateThey say that good things always come to those who wait, and for folks who happen to own the Sony Xperia TL while being subscribers to AT&T will be able to work up a smile, as their Android-powered smartphone is said to finally receive its Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update after all this while, where it is said to deliver a far smoother user interface experience in addition to an extended battery mode option.

Apart from that, the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update will also bring with it integrated HDR camera capability, while some users have reported that Wi-Fi connectivity does seem to be a whole lot more stable than before the update was applied. Not only that, the browser quick commands wheel that is located in the labs section is a well oiled machine, and is more responsive this time around, with the keyboard making more sense. Those who are interested in applying the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update for their Xperia TL can do so via the PC Companion, considering how there does not seem to have any OTA (Over The Air) option as at press time.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: LG Optimus G Pro Benchmarks, LG Optimus G Pro Unboxing [HD Video],

Sprint Force Specifications Revealed

Sprint Force Specifications RevealedIt was not too long ago when we heard about the Sprint Force that was leaked out, being an entry level LTE smartphone from ZTE that runs on the Android operating system. Well, it seems that the official specifications for the Sprint Force has been revealed, so without much further ado, let us dive down into the nitty gritty considering how it has launched today.

The Sprint Force will run on Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich right out of the box, with a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor, accompanied by a 4-inch WVGA (480×800) capacitive touchscreen display, Google Mobile wireless services including Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps for Android, Google Calendar, Voice Actions and YouTube, 3G/4G LTE mobile hotspot capability that supports up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices at one, NFC support, a 5-megapixel camera at the back with a 1-megapixel front-facing shooter, and of course, Sprint ID, Sprint Zone and Sprint TV and Movies.

The 4GB of internal memory can be further expanded upon via a microSD memory card just in case you were wondering. A very basic LTE handset, sounds good on paper, but will it perform in real life? [Press Release]

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: LG Optimus G Pro Benchmarks, LG Optimus G Pro Unboxing [HD Video],

Dropbox Suffers From Old Hack As Users Email Addresses Become Compromised

Dropbox Suffers From Old Hack As Users Email Addresses Become CompromisedDropbox announced yesterday they’ve surpassed one billion uploads a day as well as a number of new features they’re currently cooking up, but as you’ve probably learned by now, what goes up, must come down.

According to a number of Dropbox users who voiced their frustrations on the services official forums as well as across a number of social media services, it seems Dropbox is still suffering from its system hack that occurred this past July as users are reporting their emails may have been compromised yet again this week.

Email addresses that were created specifically to be used with Dropbox have been receiving spam messages as far as February 20th. One forum user writes, “I have an internal to my company email address that I used for Dropbox only and I am getting the same fake paypal scam emails. This has been happening since about Monday.” (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: CloudFlare Is Down, Taking Thousands Of Websites With It, YouTube Gets In On The Harlem Shake Craze,

Wacom teases upcoming HD mobile tablet for ‘creative uses’

Wacom teases upcoming HD mobile tablet for 'creative uses'

Wacom’s dipped its electronic quill in a lot of stylus-enabled tablets, but hasn’t yet done what many of its creative pro users would like: build one of its own. It looks like that’s about to change as the Bamboo maker has posted a teaser on Facebook saying it’ll bring a mobile tablet “this summer” with a pressure-sensitive professional pen, multi-touch capability and an HD display. There are no other details like what OS such a device may boast, but if it offers its own functionality as well — say, Cintiq-style input on a desktop machine — then Wacom could be onto a winner.

[Thanks, Mark]

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Source: Wacom (Facebook)

Best Buy reports Q4 2013 earnings, founder drops plans for private buyout

Best Buy announced its Q4 2013 (fiscal year) earnings today, and it’s not looking incredibly good. The company reported a net loss of $377 million with a revenue of $16.7 billion during the quarter. Compared to a year ago, Best Buy brought in a revenue of $16.67 billion with a net loss of $405 million, so the company actually did a tad bit better this time around, actually.

best_buy_prototype_store

As for plans to buyout the company and take it private, founder Dick Schulze looks to be reneging on that proposal. Alongside the company’s quarterly earnings announcement, it announced that the deadline for Schulze to make an offer expired yesterday, which means that the company will “continue to focus on its transformation for the benefit of all of its stakeholders.”

We heard back in October that Schulze was working with different equity firms in order to make plans for a private buyout of the electronics retail chain. Buying out the company was said to cost around $11 billion. Schulze has previously stated that he could buy the company for $24-$26 per share, which would value the company between $8.16 billion and $8.84 billion. However, with debt added on, the total bill would round up to about $11 billion.

No reason was given as to why Schulze decided to back out, but there could have been numerous reasons to choose from, including cold feet or the failure in coming to an agreement with equity firms. Either way, it looks like Best Buy will remain a public company after all, and shareholders will still get to have their say in the company.


Best Buy reports Q4 2013 earnings, founder drops plans for private buyout is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Here’s How We Go to Space Now

This morning, Elon Musk’s SpaceX program shot its third rocket into space. The Falcon 9 carries with it a Dragon cargo capsule, and will deliver supplies to ISS astronauts not entirely unlike a 19th century freight train delivering mining equipment to California. The launch, as you can see in the video above, went off without a hitch. More »

If Batman Played Golf, This Is Probably What He’d Drive

As badass as the various Batmobiles have been over the years, no self-respecting country club would ever let one of them onto their courses. So if the Dark Knight were to ever slip away in the middle of the night to relax with a round of golf, the Mansory Currus is definitely what he’d be driving. More »

Samsung Galaxy S4 Benchmark Score Surfaces

Samsung Galaxy S4 Benchmark Score Surfaces

Popular Benchmark maker Rightware has received what it believes to be a benchmark score submission from a Samsung Galaxy S4 (model GT-I9500). As expected, the alleged Galaxy S4 performs very well and had no problem landing at the top of the current charts in the BrowserMark suite of tests. In case you are not familiar with the Galaxy S code names, one variant of the Galaxy S3 was named GT-I9300 and one of the Galaxy S2 models was GT-I9100. The upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 is said to be coming at least in two variants: the GT-I9500 and the GT-I9400. Rumor has it that one S4 variant would be equipped with a Snapdragon 600 processor, while the other would use a Samsung Exynos chip. Whether it is the Exynos Octa 5, or a Dual core Exynos with two A15 cores is still a hot debate topic. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: LG Optimus G Pro Unboxing [HD Video], T-Mobile May Become A Contract-less Network This Month,

Samsung Plans To Sell 1 Million Galaxy Note 8.0 Tablets Each Month

Samsung Plans To Sell 1 Million Galaxy Note 8.0 Tablets Each Month

Samsung confirmed earlier this year it planned to unveil its Galaxy Note 8 at Mobile World Congress, and the company did just that earlier this week as they look to directly compete with the iPad Mini. And now that MWC is officially over, Samsung is reportedly very confident in its ability to sell the Android-powered tablet.

According to Taiwanese site DigiTimes, Samsung is aiming to ship around one milling units of the Galaxy Note 8.0 every month. This isn’t the first time the company has shown its confidence in selling its Galaxy products as earlier this year, they believed they would sell 10 million Galaxy S4 smartphones every month.

We know a lot of you like the Galaxy Note 2 and the iPad Mini’s success shows there’s a market for smaller tablets. But would this translate to one million Galaxy Note 8.0 sales on a monthly basis after it’s released? Only time will tell, although we think Samsung may be overshooting the amount of Galaxy Note 8.0s it’ll sell on a monthly basis.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: T-Mobile May Become A Contract-less Network This Month, Angry Birds Developer Releasing The Croods Mobile Game On iOS, Android,

SpaceX 2 Dragon struck by problems after reaching orbit

SpaceX and NASA’s second Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station successfully blasted off on its way into space, but encountered unexplained issues roughly twelve minutes into launch. Taking off at 10:10AM EST today to take new equipment and supplies to the orbiting astronauts, the Dragon capsule, climbing at 1km per second atop a cluster of nine rockets, is carrying around 1,268 pounds of cargo and had been expected to dock with the ISS on Saturday, March 2. Update: More on the launch issues after the cut.

spacex_2_liftoff

There, Expedition 34 commander Kevin Ford and Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA had been expecting to snatch it from the sky with the station’s robotic arm. The exact issues around the problem are unclear at this point.

After 3:14, the first stage rockets detached – you can see the assembly dropping away in the left half of the image below – leaving the second stage rockets to push the capsule further out of the atmosphere. At 9:30 after launch, Dragon had reached orbit, with the capsule detaching from the second stage around 45s later.

dragon_separation

However, a few minutes after that point, the launch veered from the original plan. The video stream switched from Dragon back to the second stage, and then SpaceX cut the webcast, with a spokesperson saying that an unexpected problem had affected the capsule and that the team would be working on figuring out what was happening.

dragon_detached

As well as food and other essentials for the ISS crew, the Dragon capsule is packed with scientific experiments, including both biological and physics tests. On the biology side, there’ll be experiments to see how plant cells react in low-oxygen environments, as well as in microgravity, which NASA says will be instrumental in developing potential food sources for longer trips, such as to Mars.

On the physics side, there’ll be tests to see how molten metals solidify in microgravity, which could potentially open the door to new types of materials. Procter & Gamble is also funding some research, into how microscopic particles clump and gather in liquids and gels.

SpaceX and NASA will hold a press conference in several hours time to discuss the issues Dragon is facing.

Update: We’re hearing that the problem is that the solar panels on the Dragon capsule did not unfurl as expected, though we’re yet to see official confirmation on that from either NASA or SpaceX.

Update 2: SpaceX’s Elon Musk has tweeted that there is an “Issue with Dragon thruster pods. System inhibiting three of four from initializing. About to command inhibit override.”

Update 3: SpaceX has given us the following statement:

“One thruster pod is running. Two are preferred to take the next step which is to deploy the solar arrays.  We are working to bring up the other two in order to plan the next series of burns to get to station.”


SpaceX 2 Dragon struck by problems after reaching orbit is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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